Psychology and Politics
Intersections of Science and Ideology in the History of Psy-Sciences
Anna Borgos editor Ferenc Eros editor Júlia Gyimesi editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Central European University Press
Published:1st Oct '19
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Psy-sciences (psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, pedagogy, criminology, special education, etc.) have been connected to politics in different ways since the early twentieth century. Here in twenty-two essays scholars address a variety of these intersections from a historical perspective.
The chapters include such diverse topics as the cultural history of psychoanalysis, the complicated relationship between psychoanalysis and the occult, and the struggles for dominance between the various schools of psychology. They show the ambivalent positions of the "psy" sciences in the dictatorships and authoritarian regimes of Nazi Germany, East European communism, Latin-American military dictatorships, and South African apartheid, revealing the crucial role of psychology in legitimating and "normalizing" these regimes.
The authors also discuss the ideological and political aspects of mental health and illness in Hungary, Germany, post-WW1 Transylvania, and Russia. Other chapters describe the attempt by critical psychology to understand the production of academic, therapeutic, and everyday psychological knowledge in the context of the power relations of modern capitalist societies.
"While the psy-sciences (psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, pedagogy, criminology, special education, etc.) have been studied from historical and political angles before, this volume stands out in its distinct focus on the specifics of the process in Central and Eastern Europe. On the one hand, this part of the world represents the intellectual cradle of psychoanalysis. On the other, much less is known about the biographies and conceptual developments associated with specific individuals, in particular as their thought and activities confronted changing regimes and ideologies. An especially productive aspect of Psychology and Politics is its engagement with primary historical sources around the development of early psychoanalysis and psychology. The most compelling essays in this collection manage to successfully attend to the tension between individual fates and ideas, and larger historical forces. It is interesting to see how now, in times of increasing populism and nationalism, we are turning to the experience of these countries, following how they grapple with attacks on academic subjects such as gender studies, for example, or intellectual freedoms in general, in solidarity as well as out of a desire to learn from their experiences of resisting contemporary structures of authority." * Psychoanalysis and History *
ISBN: 9789633863121
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
382 pages